A while ago here, everything went dark, and it was getting colder, and colder, and colder. It was starting to get really scary, like maybe we'd all freeze to death under a blackened sky when all of a sudden, over there in the East, there was this...this...this wonderful, amazing light, and it got bright enough to light up the whole world, and now things are getting warmer and everything! The world is saved! Hallelu-Ra!

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"The question of whether atheists are, you know, right, typically gets sidestepped in favor of what is apparently the much more compelling question of whether atheists are jerks."

So when her kids brought friends home for dinner, god multiplied the pasta? Really?

Why does god do that sort of thing in nice suburban neighborhoods, but not so much in drought stricken areas where infants and toddlers are dying by the 10's of thousands? I mean, I understand if god likes pasta more than yams. I kind of like pasta more than yams.

But it just doesn't seem to me that god has his priorities straight.

Again. This is the guy who I'm supposed to want to spend eternity with?

yhwh has a long history of mediocre miracles. Hanukkah is based on the belief that yhwh caused a days worth of oil to last 8 magical days. whoop dee flipping do. They had more oil than they thought.

Oy vey! Such a miracle! Rachel, cook up some latkes and brisket!

Does anyone else feel completely underwhelmed by hebrew cuisine? Even the Brits have better food.

Okay enough is enough. The UK food stereotype is way out of date.

The UK has an exceptionally vibrant culinary scene, the idea that we don't is just lazy and was last really true in the 70s. We have some of the best restaurants in the world (Dinner, Fat Duck & Ledbury are all regulars in 'world's top restaurants' competitions). We have significantly more Michelin stars than the USA if you take population size into account. Even at the bottom end things are great, from curries in Brick Lane or Tooting (the best you'll find outside of India), as well as the wonderful and cheap food provided by well established Chinese, Lebanese, Japanese, African, Caribbean, Italian, Greek etc... communities.

As for Israeli food check out the new cookbook Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamim - superb Israeli food.

Actually of all the many places I've been the the world the worst food by far was in the USA (except NY which was on a par with the best European cities). Everything on offer was far too sweet and and really lacking in diversity. (Taste vs value that is, the worst food I've ever eaten was nomadic cuisine in Mongolia ... nasty stuff, but free.)

hurumph....

edit: because I wrote in such a rage I couldn't type straight...

« Last Edit: January 11, 2013, 04:09:15 AM by penfold »

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"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away." - P.K.D.

This is pretty special. Why is it people make fantastical claims yet never seem to try to demonstrate it. Shoes and tires lasting a long time, perhaps you had a good pair of shoes and a great set of tires. Sheesh.

But the spaghetti? Well, I'll only believe it when I see it. So I'm calling bullshit on that one.

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edit: because I wrote in such a rage I couldn't type straight...

Shush Penfold.

I kid, I understand the stereotype, I know it's not true, we all know Screwtape likes spotted dick. To be fair, spotted dick only sounds wrong, it's only a dumpling with raisins in it. The Scots have haggis, which puts me off greatly too, but of course, there is much nicer food in Britain, some of it is British takes on foreign food, some of it is completely our own. A good restaurant will not disappoint.

However, I would say the quality of food and ingredients, particularly in supermarkets is going down. And with supermarkets being so widespread it is hard to find a proper butchers or a proper bakers, though we do have a decent butchers up the road from us, but it is a little bit out of the way but damn the food tastes good.

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“It is difficult to understand the universe if you only study one planet” - Miyamoto MusashiWarning: I occassionally forget to proofread my posts to spot typos or to spot poor editing.

Does anyone else feel completely underwhelmed by hebrew cuisine? Even the Brits have better food.

Okay enough is enough. The UK food stereotype is way out of date.

Um. Penfold, when you are defending our BRITISH cuisine, probably best not to do it by saying how many great restaurants that we have serving non-British food - Chinese, Lebanese, Japanese, African, Caribbean, Italian, Greek etc.... Point being, Screwtape compared it to HEBREW cuisine (i.e. food served all over the world as being from a particular group), rather than "food servied in Israel", which may be able to make the exact same claim you have about the great Chinese restaurants, IDK

What IS British food? Can we include Tikka Masala, or is that covered under Indian? When I think "British", I think Fish & Chips, Roast Beef & Yorkshire Puddings, Stilton cheese and Port, Jam Roly-Poly, Eccles cake, Cornish Pasties....and so on. On THAT basis, screw is horribly, horribly wrong - a proper Cornish "oggy" just can't be beaten, for one!

Well, as a house-husband living in Scotland I have to say that the list of British food above is a bit limited. Of course, the the English language, British food has successfully imported into it all sort of foreign foods. For example, I cook some sort of Indian food each week and we often have paella. These becoming rather standard parts of the cooking in the UK.

Of course there is going to be a lot of stuff brought over from North America but often that's only the junk food like McDonalds, Burger King etc but of course we eat quite a lot of turkey, a USA original. It is hard to tie down what is truly British food these days though roast beef has to one.

Incidentally, this is very interesting talking about these culinary matters but I'm not quite sure how we got away from the original topic. However, I can confirm that no gods have increased any of my food - in the pan or in the fridge, sadly!

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No testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such that its falshood would be more miraculous than the facts it endeavours to establish. (David Hume)

Incidentally, this is very interesting talking about these culinary matters but I'm not quite sure how we got away from the original topic.

When something is THAT bonkers, food seems a much more sensible thing to talk about. Sadly, my "low cholesterol lunch" was a curd-cheese sandwich on oatmeal bread. If screwtape wants to use THAT as an example of terrible British food, I'll be first in the queue to sign the petition!

^ please note, none of the are native to the British Isles. What is native British Cuisine? Bangers and mash. Fish & chips. Shepards Pie. black pudding.[1] Bubble and squeak. I've seen enough episodes of Two Fat Ladies to know.

However, I will say a few years ago I had a trip to the UK and Paris. The best food I had on that trip was in England, in Tees Valley. And I did say it was better than hebrew food.

There's something not quite right about the graph. It ought to have levelled out at the '0' line by now - the graph looks as though its heading into the negative area of the graph. Or maybe that says something....

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No testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such that its falshood would be more miraculous than the facts it endeavours to establish. (David Hume)

There's something not quite right about the graph. It ought to have levelled out at the '0' line by now - the graph looks as though its heading into the negative area of the graph. Or maybe that says something....

That may very well be the case. At this rate, 20-30 years from now, we may have to hear accounts of daydreaming about Jesus appearing on toast...

Ha. My poor dad told me last night that while his wife was battling cancer they had a cheery miracle. "We decided that the whole end result of cancer would be "win-win" because if she beats it then she beats it..if she doesn't then she will be at Home with the Father". That was his comforting words of wisdom to his heathen son. WOW